As India dates from home, usage of Tinder, Bumble, OK Cupid spikes

• Tinder, which made its ‘Passport’ feature free for all, saw the highest number of swipes on March 29 at 3 million.
  
• Priyanka Chopra backed Bumble saw a 25% increase in average messages sent during the initial period of social distancing (13-22 March).
  
• OkCupid is also among the many online dating apps to have witnessed an increase in usage by 10% worldwide since March 2020.
  
  

When Shivani from Delhi used Tinder during lockdown she got more matches than she did, in the last one year. She says there are several people who have written that they are bored and hence started dating via apps.

It seems Indians have chosen virtual romance as a way to cope with lockdown. While most of them are logging on for fun, others have gone ahead and virtual first dates.

Tinder, which made its ‘Passport’ feature free for all, saw the highest number of swipes on March 29, at three million. The passport feature lets users virtually locate oneself to another city -- to start liking and matching.

“Daily conversations have been up an average of 20% around the world, and the average length of the conversations is 25% longer. In India, conversations have been up an average of 39% and the average length of conversations is 28% longer,” said Tinder.

Waiting for a first date
Priyanka Chopra backed Bumble saw a 25% increase in average messages sent during the initial period of social distancing (13-22 March). Until December 2019, Bumble had 2 million users.

“An 11% increase in GenZ registrations during the week ending March 27 vs registered during the week ending March 13 was seen. This only underscores the natural behaviour of this age group to migrate to the digital platform for connection and entertainment,” a Bumble spokesperson told Business Insider.

Moreover, it also saw a 17% increase in video calls between March 21 and March 27.

For many users, it’s not just entertainment and fun, some of them are actually waiting to go on a real date after the pandemic is over. OkCupid, in a study, says more women than men are also waiting to date

OkCupid is also among the many online dating apps to have witnessed an increase in usage by 10% worldwide, since March 2020. Experts believe the change may not be temporary and is likely to change the way we date permanently.

See also:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi extends Coronavirus lockdown until May 3